About Me

Sachiko
I'm happily married with three beautiful children. I love to design, sew, work with beads, and restore old items. This blog is a slice of my life of things that are close to my heart. I love to hear from you all!
Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Warning: This almost essay length post might bore you, but if you want to get to know me a little better and have some time to spare please keep on reading.

In my last post I told you that I have been recovering from an angiogram. While I had lots of time to spare laying down I was feeling lots of things, and this is one of the ways for me to sort things out in my head and organize... well which is to talk to you all. :)

First I have noticed that so many people that I contact either in person or on blogging refer to me as "very nice", "sweet", "lovely", "cheerful" and in some cases they "look up to me" and so on. Some of these descriptions of me makes me blush and humbles me at the same time. Thank you so much for thinking of me that way and I deeply appreciate that.

BUT, I just wanted to clarify that I am not this perfect angelic being or saint, even though I strive to be one someday. Maybe that will happen when I am in my 80s' or so.

I am generally a happy person 90% of the times, pretty optimistic, trying to do good and be helpful and kind to others. Although, I don't think you want run into me when I am in my other 10% of the mood (Mr. TRH might attest to that). I get mad sometimes, especially when things are not fair, I get irritated, I feel envious and can be sad.

I have been in this 10% of me in the last few days and quietly having a self-pity party.

Seems to me that it is a pattern going on that when things are starting to pick up and going well for me, I start having health issues. It has been like that ever since I was little. I remember all the field trips that I had to miss, things that I had to give up because of my medical condition.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, it was the same thing. Just before I started a new job, I got ill and I was hospitalized for a couple months. I was still able to work for this company later on, desperately hoping to save up money for Art/Design school. Guess what? Seven months later, I had problems with my leg and the doctor STRONGLY advised that I should quit working. (I am not going in to the details about my disorder and such in this post, but I wrote about some in this post and this other post).

Since I had to learn how to cope with my disorder and disappointments growing up, I think I became resilient adaptable person and I can go with the flow of life. Though sometimes... I am just tired of this same old same old routine, and want to say "enough already!"

Times like that I just have a good cry and allow myself to be sad...

But you know what? One of the gifts that Heavenly Father blessed me with is that I am quick to redirect my thoughts and get back to the other 90% of myself (the one I like much better).

There are few things that I do to get in touch with my happy self. I am not saying that you need them or anything. You might be someone that never gets sad or you already have some method that works for you. If you are someone like me, these might be some useful tips. ;)

1. I count my blessings. When I am in the self-pity mode, it is hard to do this at first. But hey, seriously, I am blessed with a husband that who loves me and goes the extra, not just mile, some many miles for me. I am blessed with my amazing kids who are healthy and happy. As a mother I am so glad that I am the one with the disorder, not them. We all live under the same roof (so many Tsunami victims/survivors are living separately from their family after 6 months!). We have food to eat each meal, other necessities and more are taken care of too. There are so many others. Sometimes I even write them down to see them, since I am a visual person.

2. I watch, read and listen to anything that lifts up my spirit. It is good to immerse myself in "good things" and soak them up. This sounds simple, but it is very effective.

3. I try not to compare myself or my situation to others. There are always people that are doing better than me; it doesn't matter if it is financial, health, career, looks, and housing. Celebrating the differences and uniqueness instead of being envious is a short cut to inner peace. Also I try to remember there is a season for everything.

4. Reach out. This has two different meanings for me.

I reach out to who would love me and listen to me no matter what. Most of the time, it is Mr. TRH that listens to me. Just letting off some steam (nicely though, you don't want the people around you to get "BURNED") makes me feel so much better.

I reach out to help other people. If my problem is not physical and I am capable, I try to do something good. Feelings of being useful, and making a difference in someone’s life energizes me even though it is something very small.

5. Well, you know me. I sew. That is one of the things that have been a constant in my life. Concentrating my energy in designing and sewing lets me forget the pain and sadness. It is very therapeutic. Also looking at the finished product gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

6. I pray. I am not going to lie, sometimes I just don't feel like it but I do pray anyways. I know in times like that it is more crucial for me to pray. My faith in God helps me to see why I am here and why I need to endure (well, preferably with a good attitude) to the end instead of being in my cave of misery.

I hope I don't sound preachy, but really, all these things help me to be who I am in hard times. I am also aware that there are people with mental illnesses or depression and these things won't help them like they do me.

I am just hoping that you will remember these tips and your little blogger friend on your blue days. :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This turned out to be one of my favorite projects. It was so fun to work on and I am excited to wear this for the upcoming season. Head over to see the complete tutorial and I would love to hear what you think! :)

By the way, I want to thank all who left kind comments and well wishes. It was so nice to hear from Mr. TRH about them and I felt so lucky to have you all as my blogging friends. :)

Note: If you want to know what's been going on with my life since last Thursday please keep reading, but if you have a weak stomach maybe you shouldn't...

What happened was I had an angiogram last Thursday afternoon. It was a procedure that my new doctor (my previous doctor moved to a different state :( ) wanted to have done before my usual procedure for my leg to know better what is going on.

It was supposed to be about an hour procedure, a couple hours to recover from sedation and go home happy (if you must know... I have several projects that I wanted to start on Friday. I thought I would be up and about as usual the next day). Well, I woke up and I didn't feel good. On the way home I started throwing up badly, and half way home I noticed that I was bleeding from the puncture area where the angiogram was performed... Hello, isn't that major artery?! We had to drop the kids back off at my in-laws again, and returned to the emergency room. When we came home, it was about 4:30am...

Since then the bleeding has slowed down and it is more of an oozing wound but it has been 6 days! I have been really taking it easy.

The first couple of days I slept all day long.

The third and fourth day I read all day. A Couple books from my stash by my bed. Since I hardly ever get a large chunk of time for reading which was really nice.

Then by the fifth and sixth days I AM REALLY REALLY starting to get board! Usually when I am going to get a procedure, I always prepare projects that I can work on in my bed, even laying down. I just love keeping myself busy. For example, small appliqué blocks, hexagon pieces to stitch together, making bunch of yo-yo's and flowers etc... I guess I was under prepared this time.

There are things need to be done, and I want to work on, but I guess they have to wait.

I am grateful for my supportive husband who helped me with my blog while I am down. I am blessed with my sweet friends who brought nice dinners and such too... thank you guys!!

Also, I am so glad that the couple tutorials I promised to other blogs were done before the procedure. I am actually not well enough to sew, take pictures and write tutorials yet.I am going to take a break from the link party this week as well, but hopefully I will be well enough next week. :)

Thank you for reading my "happenings" as of late. I will talk to you soon. :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hi all! I am participating Purse week over at Lemon Squeezy Home today, I hope you will enjoy my tutorial. :)

I talked to you about my love of basket style handbags before, well, here’s where it all started. I was at Joann's one day and saw some woolen tweed fabric. There is something about the fabric, as I was touching it, I started thinking of what I could make with this... When I held one corner of the fabric sideways, the herringbone pattern on the fabric reminded me of a basket. Then an idea popped in my head to make a "flower basket" inspired bag for the upcoming seasons.

Yap, it might sound funny to you but that's how my brain works. :) I will share the tutorial with you today.

{You will need}

Wool, or wool like tweed fabric 1/2"yd100 cotton fabric for lining 1ydFusible fleece enough to put them on the back of the liningFusible interfacing (thick) 2 pieces of 2 1/2" x 19 1/2"Matching threadMagnet closure

For flowers on the bag...you will need various fabrics, wools and buttons

{How to}

{Assembling for the bag}

1. Before cutting the fabrics, fuse the fusible fleece on the fabric for lining. That way you don't have to measure and cut twice. It saves time and is so much easier.

2. Make pocket. First treat the edge with zigzag stitch and fold the corner. Second, fold the sides and the bottom to make a mitered corner. Then, fold the top twice and sew.

3. Mark the middle on one of the linings and 2 1/2 " from the top. Pin the pocket onto the fabric and sew.

4. Mark onto the fabric from the right; 2 1/2", 4", 1 1/4" to divide the pocket. I like it this way so have separate pockets for pens, phone, and such.

5. Mark " from the top in the middle, and use the parts of the magnetic closure to mark. Cut the marked line open, and install the magnet parts according to the instruction on the package.

6. Put lining right sides together. Sew the sides and the bottom using 1/2" seam.

7. To make a boxed bottom, pinch the corner, and line up the sides and the bottom seam. Pin it and draw a line at 3" mark from the tip. Sew on the line, clip the excess.

8. Take the tweed fabric, and repeat the step no.6 and 7.

9. To make the handles, I fused hard interfacing onto the 3" x 20" strips. Fold the both sides toward the middle and folded in half. Sew around the edge with 1/8" seam.

10. Measure 5" from the edges from both sides of the bag. Insert the bag handle to between the tweed fabric and the lining, line the handle to the " mark. Pin all around the bags opening.

11. Sew around the top. Make sure to leave a 5" to 6" opening for turning the fabric inside out.

12. Turn the fabric out. Fold the opening nicely and pin it. Top stitch the opening and stitch the bottom of the handles to secure them.

13. To make the insert for the bottom, cut 2 - 6" x 14 1/2" from the lining fabric, sew around it with a 1/4" seam. Insert 5" x 13 1/2" plastic mesh and slip stich to close the opening. Put it in the bottom of the bag.

{How to make flowers and Yo-yo's}

*Folded fabric flower1. I cut two different sizes for two different flowers. 8- 3", and 9- 4".

2. Fold the fabrics according to the picture.

3. Using two strands of threads, put through each petal to the thread, don't forget to cut off the excess.

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4. Tie the ends to form a circle, to make a flower. I like to sew each petal to each other to secure them.

*leavesCut 1" x 2" rectangle first, and trim them so they look like leaves. They don't have to be perfectly unified.

*Flat flowers

Cut 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" square and trim it so that it will have four petals. Cut small circles for the middle.*Felt flower (purple)1. Cut 7 - 1" x 2". Trim them so that they have pointy top.

2. Fold the bottom in half, and fold the edges outward. Pull them through the thread to make a flower. I stitched them together several times to secure them better.

*Felt flower (muted pink)

1. Cut 6 - 1" x 1 1/4" rectangles, trim them so that they will have a rounded top.2. Using the same method from step 2 on felt flower (purple), make the flower.3. Cut a circle for the middle and sew.4. Sew yo-yo on top of the small felt circle

*Yo-yo

I used 3" and 2" circles to make yo-yo's. Smaller ones on the felt flowers are made with 1 1/4" circles. If you need to see how to make yo-yo, you can go to my tutorial.

{Assemble}

In my opinion, this is the most fun part. Just lay down the bag and lay down the flowers and yo-yo's to see what you can come up with! It is better to deiced where you want the bigger pieces to go first then decide on the smaller ones.

Pin them to see if you like the lay out. If you do, it is time to stitch them onto the bag.

I used some DMC floss to do fun stitches on the flowers and leaves. I did lots of slip stitches around the yo-yo's.

After you are all done with the above, you can add buttons and such.

Time to enjoy the bag...

I love how it turned out! I feel like I can always carry a bit of spring and summer even under the gloomy sky of fall and winter.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

This is Mr. TRH. I'm filling in today. Sachiko had a procedure done on Thursday and had a minor setback in her recovery. She should be up and about in a few days. In the meanwhile she asked that I post the winner for the Tea Rose Home 3rd Blogaversary 3rd week giveaway. (wow, that's a lot of thirds). So without further adieu here are the lucky winners:

Stephanie

Mommarock

Congratulations you two!! Please email your shipping info, Sachiko will send them your way as soon as she can.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I shared how I found some Liberty of London fabrics in my stash and how I used them to make fabric covered buttons several posts ago...

Well, I keep finding good uses for these fabrics. I will share what I’ve done and the tutorial for it next week. Meanwhile, I am sharing some pictures of bracelets today.

I wanted some eclectic, fun, and slightly chunkier bracelets for myself. I decided to mix oversized buttons and beads with the fabric covered buttons that I made with my beloved Liberty of London fabrics.

All I did was to use elastic for jewelry making, threaded the buttons and beads. Tie the ends and apply some super glue... that is it! Isn't it so easy? I bet this will be a fun gift exchange idea for Christmas too!Here are the lancelets...

I like them all; it is so much fun to think about what you can wear with them. I feel like a plain t-shirt could even look interesting with these bracelets.

Red & Orange,

Mauve & Blue,

Green & Brown,

Which one do you like best?

My favorite? I must say the red one.

I feel like I put the covered buttons to good use, and the best part is, if I ever change my mind, I can cut the elastic anytime I want and use them for something else, isn't that awesome? :)